Stucco Failure can Lead to Safety Hazards Unless Remediated

Stucco failure occurs when water is able to get behind the surface of a wall and can’t escape. Because stucco is a porous material, some level of water intrusion is to be expected. This is why weep screeds exist — to allow the moisture to escape from within the wall. While water might not sound all that damaging, anyone who has experienced their home flooding will know how destructive it can be. This destruction caused by stucco failure manifests in the form of safety hazards for those within your home.

Stucco Safety Hazards

If water is unable to escape from within your walls, it can cause some serious damage. The rotting of internal structures and the growth of hazardous mold are just two such damage types. This, in turn, can compromise the structural integrity of your home and lead to those inside developing health conditions.

Structural Rot

Under normal circumstances, you don’t have to worry about the structural integrity of your home. But once water damage is involved, that may no longer be the case. When water gets behind the stucco exterior of your walls, it can rot the wooden beams that support the weight of the wall and other portions of the building. If left unchecked, this rot can even lead to partial or total collapses of the wall. Even if the wall doesn’t end up collapsing before the damage is fixed, a rotten wall will be more susceptible to damage in general.

Stucco Safety Hazard: Mold

The most common signs that moisture is intruding into your walls are staining and discoloration on the surface of the walls. Unfortunately, by the time you realize that excessive moisture is penetrating into the walls of your home, the damage will have already begun. Once that happens, remediation is your only course of action.

Hazardous Mold

Beyond damaging the structure of your home, water intrusion into exterior walls can also create a moist environment that promotes the growth of mold. Dark, damp spaces between walls are the perfect breeding ground for mold. And some of this mold can be highly harmful to humans and pets within your home. Symptoms of living with mold can be similar to having allergies or a cold at all times. However, living with mold can also cause much more serious symptoms to develop, such as asthma. The only way to reverse these symptoms once they begin is to remove the mold through remediation.

Repair is not Enough

Simple repairs are not enough to solve the underlying issues caused by water intrusion. Complete remediation of your walls is the only way to both fix the damage that has been done and prevent future damage from occurring. Repairing your failing stucco is like putting tape over a hole in a pipe to stop it from leaking. It might temporarily fix the issue, but you’re going to end up repairing the same problem over and over again.

Remediation is like cleaning up the mess caused by the initial leak and then replacing the leaking pipe with a better one that’s less likely to develop a new hole. Yes, remediation is a more expensive and time-consuming process upfront, involving the complete removal and reapplication of exterior walls. But it’s less expensive and time-consuming in the long run when compared to continuous repairs every year or few months.

Stucco Remediation

Remediation Versus Repair

If your home has a stucco exterior that isn’t holding up quite as well as it once did, you’ve probably come across two terms: stucco remediation and stucco repair.

Remediate Before It’s Too Late

By failing to remediate stucco that has allowed excess water to intrude beyond its surface, you are opening your home up to rot and hazardous mold development. If left unchecked this could seriously compromise the structural integrity of your walls and cause your family to become sick. Simply repairing the damage is not enough. Without complete remediation, it will only be a matter of time before water begins to seep into your walls again.

Friel Exteriors

Is your stucco in need of remediation? Improperly installed stucco can lead to an increase in water intrusion, which if left untreated will cause safety hazards such as wooden structures rotting and mold forming. Contact the stucco experts at Friel Exteriors today to schedule an inspection and get a quote.